> > I hate the way umsdos does this. Each device file, link, fifo,
> > and socket, uses a disk cluster. That's often 16 kB per device file,
> > and /dev has quite a few.
>
> Sorry, but you're just plain wrong. Link yes (but so do most UNIX
> filesystems), but not for device files, fifos or sockets.
Actually, yes, they do. A mostly complete Slackware install takes around
200 megs on an ext2fs partition with 4k blocks (a little less with 1k
blocks). When I installed a umsdos system for the first time, I was
amazed at the sheer amount of space it took up. 16k for every file. And
if I remember right, devices, fifos and sockets are all (albeit special)
files.
> > If you can't do it right, DON'T DO IT, PLEASE!!!
> >
> > The umsdos filesystem is severely broken. There are very few times
> > that a symbolic link is not equivalent to a hard link. You don't
> > even need hard links on the root partition. You could have the system
> > call return an error or make a symbolic link (a mount option?), but
> > please don't try to pretend that hard links exist when they don't.
>
> Sorry, but POSIX require them. Just don't use them if you don't like'm.
Are we really worried about extending full POSIX compliance to the UMSDOS
FS? I mean, I understand that we are shooting for that goal in general.
And I certainly think we should aim to make ext2fs POSIX compliant.
But let's not go overboard just to extend compliance to a hack (yes, I
know there was a lot of work done on it, but it's still a hack to me - I
would never think of using UMSDOS for any system I planned to keep up
more than 2 weeks). Ext2fs was built with POSIX compliance in mind; FAT
& UMSDOS were not, so don't try to make them that way. It'll be more
work than it's worth.
shag
Judd Bourgeois | When we are planning for posterity,
shagboy@thecia.net | we ought to remember that virtue is
Finger for PGP key | not hereditary. Thomas Paine